Robert Frank – Trolley, New Orleans, 1955

Context

• Taken during the Jim Crow era in New Orleans when segregation laws separated Black and white passengers on public transport.
  
  

• Part of Frank’s larger project documenting American life with a critical eye toward inequality and national identity.
  
  

Denotative

• A trolley with passengers looking out the windows.
  
  

• White passengers are seated toward the front; Black passengers in the back.
  
  

Connotative

• The window frames visually divide the passengers, symbolizing racial boundaries.
  
  

• Different expressions create a tense atmosphere that suggests unequal experiences of life in America.
  
  

• The image challenges the idea of national unity.
  
  

Objectivity vs. Subjectivity

• Appears to be a neutral documentary record.
  
  

• Frank’s framing and timing reveal this is also a subjective critique of segregation and social division.
  
  

• Meaning remains somewhat ambiguous and depends on viewer interpretation.
  
  

Intersection of Cultural Determinants (Orvell)

• Shaped by politics (Jim Crow laws), social attitudes toward race, economic class, and Frank’s artistic intention to expose overlooked realities.
  
  

Connection to Price & Wells

• Shows how a photograph can present itself as factual evidence while still constructing a powerful ideological message.
  
  

• Meaning relies on cultural context, representation, and visual signs within the image.
  
  

Intended Message

Highlights the contradiction between America’s democratic ideals and its systemic racial inequality.

Andreas Gursky – 99 Cent, 1999

Context

• Gursky is a contemporary German photographer known for large-scale images of consumer spaces and globalization.
  
  

• This photo was taken in a 99 Cents Only store in Los Angeles.
  
  

• Gursky digitally manipulated the image to increase the sense of repetition and excess.
  
  

• His work critiques modern capitalism, mass production, and consumer behavior.
  
  

Denotative

• A brightly lit discount store with aisles packed full of low-cost products.
  
  

• Shelves create strong horizontal lines.
  
  

• People appear small and scattered throughout.
  
  

Connotative

• Overwhelming visual repetition suggests consumer culture as chaotic and endless.
  
  

• The products look identical, implying loss of individuality and meaning.
  
  

• The price signs emphasize that everything has been reduced to a commodity.
  
  

• Consumers look almost absorbed into the system, reinforcing the idea of conformity.
  
  

Objectivity vs. Subjectivity

• Looks like a documentary record of a real store.
  
  

• Heavy digital editing shows strong artistic control and commentary.
  
  

• Meaning is less ambiguous than Frank’s trolley photo. It clearly critiques consumerism, though viewers may differ on whether the mood is playful or disturbing.
  
  

Intersection of Cultural Determinants (Orvell)

• Economics: Focus on cheap goods and mass consumption.
  
  

• Technology: Digital manipulation allows an exaggerated reality.
  
  

• Social context: Reflects a culture defined by buying rather than identity.
  
  

• Audience expectations: Challenges the belief that abundance equals happiness.
  
  

Connection to Price & Wells

• Demonstrates that photographs do not simply document. They construct ideology about growth, materialism, and globalization.
  
  

• Semiotics: color, repetition, interior lighting all function as signs of consumer excess.
  
  

• Audience interpretation depends on awareness of modern economic life.
  
  

Intended Message

• A commentary on the scale and impersonality of capitalism.
  
  

• Shows how people become small parts of a massive consumer environment.

Denotative: The image shows a american beach, with a traditional american pier, with a stealth bomber

Connotative: The subject is to portray the militarisation and weaponizing of America and how normal it is, its a great contradiction, since it shows a normal life vs the military might with just one plane. 

The Price & Wells text does examine about the rhetoric, but we dont know the context of the photo (the year, the photographer etc), and therefore it’s not possible. It could be a photo taken by the government to say “we are always keeping you safe” or it could be, like we said, to point out the weaponization of america

Use Price & Wells’s case study of Migrant Mother (37-47) as a blueprint for your analyses.

Considered in terms of aesthetics and traditions of representation in art: The colors of the photo is very clear, and 

Be aware of which approach(es) you use

Consider notions of objectivity, subjectivity, and ambiguity

- The picture is most likely taken to point something out, either that Americans are safe or that they are too used to weapons, making it subjective.
Consider Orvell’s “intersection of cultural determinants” (p. 15)

The aesthetic composition of the photograph: It’s arguable that the photographer hasn't though about taking the picture in a certain way e.g. “the golden ration” since the “plane” moved very quickly. As mentioned above, the colors of the photo are very clear. 

The interpretive code; the picture is very symbolic to the US, being a way to show the norms of the military in American society. If you were to look purely literal at the photo, it would just be a beach with a jet in the sky. But it is more than that.

Do some research on the photographer and the photo. What is the background? The historical/cultural context? Is it part of a larger work (e.g. a photo book)? Is there an intended message from the photographer? Etc.

Nina Berman is a documentary photographer with a primary interest in the American political and social landscape.

The photographer's name is Nina Berman and she made a series of photos called Homeland after 9/11. The series is meant to show the militarisation of American life and the

Name of photographer: Robert Frank

Viewed primarily as social or historical evidence:

The photograph is primarily historical evidence, because it shows the segregation in america  

related to politics and ideology: 

It was the photographers intention to show the everyday racism in New Orelans. It shows that hes against segregation. 

Consider notions of subjectivity, objectivity, ambiguity: 

Objectivity = we see a trolley with people, subjectivity = theres a segregation amongst the people. 

The aesthetic composition:  

The composition landscape and he has tried to remove the light. He has used reflections in the windows. In the picture part of a Walgreens sign can be seen. 

Interpretive codes

The photograph is symbolic because it shows everyday life racism and segregation in the south of America 

Historical context

The photographer traveled from california to new york to make his photography book. 

“Frank found less of the freedom and tolerance imagined by postwar Europeans, and more alienation and racial prejudice simmering beneath the seemingly happy surface of the Eisenhower era.”

Name of photograph: V-J Day In Times Square/The Kiss 14/8/1945

Name of photographer: Alfred Eisensteadt

Viewed as primarily social or historical evidence 

The photograph is historical evidence that shows the celebration the second world war ending. 

discussed in relation to class, race and gender 

White people and navy sailors. 

Consider notions of subjectivity, objectivity, ambiguity: 

objectivity, two people kissing and people cheering in the background, subjectivity and ambiguity, do they know each other? 

Interpretive codes: 

symbolic showing war victory and spontaneous joy 

The presentational format:

live magazine 

Histrical context:

The message of Japan surrendering. The photographer is german american. His family were jews which is why he fled to America. The photo was part of a collection called victory celebration. 

Denotative: The image shows a man (Donald Trump) who has blood on his face, and a victory attitude. It looks like there are five bodyguards who are trying to get the man away from the place. The U.S. flag is shown in the background. 

Connotative: Patriotism, the power of the (white) American. “Make America great again!” He can't die (at least not his spirit). America will prevail! Etc.

Use Price & Wells’s case study of Migrant Mother (37-47) as a blueprint for your analyses.

Viewed primarily as social or historical evidence: with the knowledge of the symbolic, and the historical context it’s arguable that the photograph show “social evidence”. The photograph illustrate the chaos of in the U.S. then time

Investigated in relation to the intentions of the photographer and the particular context of its making: the particular context of its making is “chaos in the U.S”

Considered in terms of aesthetics…: The clear blue colur, against the people wearing black clothes. Furthermore the photo is taken from beneath, whit shows that TRump does have powr.

Be aware of which approach(es) you use
Consider notions of objectivity, subjectivity, and ambiguity

Objectivity: the context of the photo is that trump is getting shot very quickly, and therefore the photografs “structure” is random, which speak to that the  photografter is a objective. The photogfrafer could not have the chance to compose the picture before hand, as it happened very quickly.

Consider Orvell’s “intersection of cultural determinants” (p. 15)

The interpretive codes, whereby an image can be seen as ‘symbolic’

The history of the photographs reception

Do some research on the photographer and the photo. What is the background? The historical/cultural context? Is it part of a larger work (e.g. a photo book)? Is there an intended message from the photographer? Etc.

The picture was taken by Evan Vucci, the chief photojournalist of the Associated Press. The picture wasn't for a particular photo book of sorts, rather, it was a very spontaneous picture in a way. Vucci has covered many Trump rallies throughout his career, and also covered the war in Afghanistan etc. he states that he “knew” it was an attempt to assassinate Trump, and therefore felt it would be an important event to take a picture of.